The Rise of the Exalted
by Zachan
Summary: In a time of turmoil, the Dragon Blooded have destroyed all and the world is in chaos. There is only one hope, that the Solar Exalted return and return the world to the first age. And Zachan is one of those Solar Exalted who might be able to do just tha


The Rise of the Solar Exalted  
  
Welcome to the world of the Exalted, the Exalted are beings of incredible power, very similar to humans, in fact once humans themselves, but they are much more. The Solar Exalted ruled all in the First Age. It was a time of absolute prosperity. But the Sidereal Exalted could predict the future, and foresaw corruption and turmoil in the Solar Exalted. So they allied themselves with the Terrestrial Exalted (a.k.a. the Dragon Blooded) and overthrew the Solar Exalted with mass numbers. The Solar Exalted were much stronger, but in so few a number that they could not deal with the vast armies of the Dragon Blooded.  
  
After this revolution the Dragon Blooded were in charge. And the new age began. Much of the gifts, skills, and powers of the First Age were lost. And the Solar Exalted were unable to return for centuries, The Wyld Hunt kept them suppressed. Even though they were re-incarnated, the Dragon Blooded killed them before they could remember their old Exalted self. This went on for about 8 centuries. Over time, much of the world was completely forgotten; some had even forgot it had existed.  
  
Now the world is about to enter another state of turmoil. The Dragon Blooded Empress has totally vanished. Nowhere to be found. No signs of death, kidnapping, nothing. She's just gone. The whole Dragon Blooded government is falling. Dragon Blooded legions are fighting each other for control of the throne and all is in an absolute state of chaos. But there is one hope. With the current situation the Wyld Hunt has ceased to exist. And the Solar Exalted are returning. Much of the old ways have been lost, but that won't stop them. And that's where we meet our hero.  
  
Zachan, a man of about 6 ft tall, well built with blonde hair and blue eyes, walks into the tavern. Nobody takes much notice to him as he sits at a table and gets himself a drink. He sits there quietly sipping slowly. "I can't believe this is happening" he thinks to himself, "I've become an Exalted!" Now some might think that gaining divine powers is a good thing. But this might not turn out too well. The Dragon Blooded still kill the Solar Exalted on sight even though the hunt is off. As Zachan sits there contemplating what he will do next, three armed men come running and screaming into the bar, armed with swords and bows. Everyone else is scared shitless but Zachan pays no attention. As they start collecting goods from the townsfolk, Zachan realizes this could be a good opportunity to see what his new "state" can really do. As they approach him, they see he is armed with a great sword at his side, decently crafted armor, and a small bag of money. Now none of this is really all that special, but they still want it. "Put everything ya got in the goddamn bag!" yelled one of the bandits. Zachan stands slowly, reaches for his sword slowly. He lightly grips the handle as if he were about to give in to these common thieves. But suddenly he bursts out with a huge swipe across the bandit's body. Gashing from his lower chest up to his neck. It was like a hot knife through butter and nobody even saw it coming. Everyone looked at him, he just smiled at took a look at his next opponent. "YOU BASTARD!" screamed one of the other bandits as he took an arrow to his bow, readying it to fire. Again, Zachan paid no real attention to these weaklings and began walking toward the door. The bandit fired his arrow directly at Zachan. Zachan turned quickly and caught the arrow with his bare hands, after taking a quick look at it, he tossed it to the way side. "You have elected the way of pain," whispered Zachan. He took his sword in hand, and ran at the next bandit with the greatest of speed, he swung his sword with the finest of skill. The first swing cut the bandit's chest, the second he spun around thrusting the huge blade into his stomach, then he pulled out his blade, fast enough to stand straight up and still see his enemy fall to the ground. He took a look at the third and final bandit. His gaze was almost as piercing and painful as his blade, the bandit then chose to drop his bag and run for his life. "Retrieve your lost possessions, they will cause no more trouble." said Zachan. He then left the bar as quietly as he came in. He returned to his home just like any other day. But instead of forging swords or armor like every other day, he dwelled on the Exalted. And the more he thought; he began to remember battles, and scenes from his past life. He saw himself on the wall of a great temple, called a manse. Defending it with his legion against one of the many legions of the Dragon Blooded. He was wearing golden beautiful armor of expert design. Nothing like he had ever seen. He blade was long and wide, also golden and very beautiful. Items of these craft were not common at all; in fact, there is no one alive who can still make them. After these visions he returned to bed, hoping that his dreams would bring more answers.  
  
The next day when he awoke there was a lot of commotion in the town. He looked out his window to see what was happening. He saw a local farmer talking to three armed men with huge swords and finely crafted armor. The farmer then pointed to Zachan's house and the three men approached. "Well this can't be good," he thought to himself, "I wonder if they are Dragon Blooded, well I guess I'll find out soon enough." When they got to his house, the leader yelled, "SOLAR EXALTED, WE ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE IMMACULATE ORDER! COME OUT AND WE WILL MAKE YOUR DEATH SWIFT AND PAINLESS!" "Definitely not good." he thought to himself. After a 30 second pause the Dragon Blooded soldiers became impatient. Each Dragon Blooded had different color armor, one red, one blue, and one green. Zachan well knew that each had specific powers over elements, so he was going to have his hands full. At one point, the three Exalted said screw it, the Dragon Blooded in the full red armor pulled out a finely crafted bow, took aim at Zachan's house, and fired, but just as he fired the arrow set on fire. He continually made pop shots at the house for about a minute causing the whole building to start collapsing. The Dragon Blooded assumed he had died in the fire and started to turn around, and just as they did, Zachan made a move of his own. Anxious to put his essence to the test, he channeled raw essence to his blade to increase his attack, he jumped out of a window flying at the Water Dragon Blooded, causing him great pain and sending him about 30 ft down the road. The Earth Dragon Blooded immediately reacted, channeling essence of his own and striking Zachan with his bear fist. Zachan flew into the tavern knocking over a few tables, but this caused him no real harm. He took this pause in the tavern as an opportunity to evaluate the situation, the Water Dragon Blooded down for the count, at least for the moment. And the other two were heading for the bar. "God damn you!" screamed the Fire Dragon Blooded as he drew up another arrow. Zachan didn't want another fire arrow hitting someone so he decided to do something about this one; he grabbed someone's beer and threw it at the Fire Dragon Blooded as he shot the arrow. Now either skill or luck occurred here, but things went well for Zachan, as the fire arrow left the bow it landed directly in the beer causing a minor explosion, but right in the Dragon Blooded's face. The last standing Dragon Blooded started running at the tavern screaming, "I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" Zachan ran out to meet him and they engage in a blade duel to be remembered in that town. Each warrior matched the other move for move, their movements were as swift as the wind and neither one was letting up. As the townsfolk watched on they could barely keep up as they saw four and five swords swinging through the air when there was really only two. But finally Zachan found the perfect opportunity to get through his opponent's defense, when he had hit the Water Dragon Blooded he had dropped a vast blue shield. Zachan kicked the shield causing it to flip into the air; he caught it and threw it at his opponent's feet. Zachan had timed his throw perfectly and the Dragon Blooded stepped on the shield and tripped. Zachan flipped in the air, and lunged his sword into his enemy's chest, right then; everyone knew they saw the birth of a great warrior. "I can no longer stay here, I must leave this town in search of my Solar brother's hopefully to find out more about myself." He examined the equipment of his fallen opponents and found only one item of real interest, all the armor was ruined and the bows didn't concern him. The Earth Dragon Blooded was carrying a sword much like he did in his vision. It wasn't of the same medal or nearly as well crafted but it outclasses his great sword by far. "A Daiklave." he whispered. So he picked it up, dropped his great sword, retrieved some goods from his house, mounted his horse and left, not knowing what or who he would find out there. 


End file.
